Episode 4 Autumnwatch Unsprung

We've got creepy Crawley spiders. Things that screech in the dark.

have got that's in your hair. have got the one and only, the man

who knows the dark side will stop visit Hallowe'en? Not yet. No, it's

Autumnwatch Unsprung! What a fabulous audience we have

today. Of course, we have the essential, keeping us all in order,

and getting odder messages. It's a L'Orage. As I mentioned earlier,

its neck. You're talking about the black build a blackbird? That was

an little bit of a worry because last week, some of you send in

photographs and asked questions about blackbirds and Chris said

that they were probably... This thing was, people wrote in and said,

these are just amateur blackbirds but at the that was unfair because

we didn't prison it was immature blackbirds. We got they were black

with properly black bowls. Look at these pictures please. There they

are, this is an example of exactly what you were talking about. The

the one on the bottom left-hand corner, right hand corner, is a

proper black bird. The others look like immature blackbirds and we're

not interested in those. I didn't know what it meant when it came to

these faux blackbirds so tell us. He it's on my card, apparently!

official response is, some juveniles that have underdeveloped

yellow beaks yet but we get birds that come in from Scandinavia over

the winter and they are slightly slimmer and have these distinctive

darker birds. There are Scandinavian the blackbirds. We got

that from our friends at the BT though. We have real treats, Mark

Bardsley who has been here before, look at these, you will like these

a lot. Who is this supposed to be? Years is brilliant, but at the

detail in that. I don't look like that, do I? Look at mine, we

haven't changed our tea-cosy this week but I have one on my head and

look, we have a naturalist their and the sticky toffee apple - it's

absolutely Fabulous. I like the way I've got bird's legs! What I like

down in the corner is the associated species. A I think we

should have an audience from the vote - whose thinks that Martin's

looks like him? Who thinks that mine is a good image of me? Chris?

He is accomplished, that is fantastic. That will take pride of

place in my toilet. I'm only joking, I'm really chuffed with that.

we have a quiz? Let's have the Quiz here. Right, because this week his

ass go on courses and we have three skulls. We have been talking about

all these animals in the series so far. The first one is this small

one at the bottom here. Look at the distinctive shape and those eye

sockets. The eye sockets and the shape of the beak. The second one,

a much larger scale, covered in some distracted wedding. A species

we have been talking a lot about. Cover the name up! The third one is

a much smaller one because that teachers will need to be seen to

provide a clue as to what this is. I have to tell you that this is not

a full adult of this species, this is an animal that is have grown and

it was full size, it would be out here. The other parties to identify

a this breed of dog. A wonderful breed Of Dock, which breed is that?

Does anyone know what they might be? We have a few. Let's have some

questions. Billy - why don't feed fares breed here in the UK? They

have bred here but not in large numbers. There are sporadic

breeders. They have bred in Scotland. They are a bird that has

adapted to a thrash which is breeding in the northern parts of

Europe. We have thrash, song thrushes and blackbirds and they

have evolved to live in an environment for the North and so as

a consequence, there are aspects of their physiology not suited to this

this eulogy. As climate change continues, they will be pushed

further our words. Presumably they have a similar diets to our native

thrushes. There are always subtle differences, that is the whole

point. To separate yourself from your nearest rivals, reduce

competition so you have a resource to yourself. At some point in the

origin of the evolution of the thrush of birds, they had separated

so they have nested in the Highlands, they probably do still

every year but not very many. next one sent us a letter with a

weird at a corner. I think the record is in there. Please can you

solve a mystery. Just off a beach, I came across scrolls looking like

acorns but on further inspection, there were no cooked trees but she

located these unidentified trees. I know these extremely well. These

are home book Trees, 16 century invaders and they are evergreens so

they don't lose their leaves. They are tolerant to living on rough

conditions and they took over a little bit. I do a lot conservation

work in difficult places and I am forever chopping down these because

people don't like them. But they provide good cover in the winter

and there was one year us which was a great roosting site for birds

because they are evergreen. They are not all bad. And not going to

cut them down any more! That is the second question about acorns. We

have a good sound question from Joe he says, what is this signed?

GRUNTING. Does anybody know what that is? Anyone have any idea?

Let's hear it again. It doesn't even sound leaden animal. I've got

very low volume, to be honest, but it could be a keeper career. It was

recorded in the Forest of Dean. sounds more like a bird, that

repetitive call. Can we have it at a higher volume. I just been told

him idea what it is. It is a raving. - Mike Raven. We've been saying

curious things have been happening this autumn and many have been

talking about strange bird nesting habits. Chris SOBS swallows on the

nest in October, but as ridiculously late. Jehan saw

magpies are building a nest just last week and gym socks and

ducklings on Wednesday. But then we heard about this very extreme

example. Can you please come in? Look at that, he is hissing isn't

he? We ought to say that this is a wild bird and Pauline wants to keep

this bird or wild. Where did he come from? He has been in with us

for a fortnight life. He was taken into a vet so we hope that there

are no siblings needing help but a bar and now at this age is six

months too early or six months too late. He is facing a harsh winter

and it is a problem but there are a species that breed in every month

of the year. If we get a year where there is lots of food, they will

have one batch, then another, then another so they are designed to

respond in this way. I remember seeing some that had just left a

nest of Christmas Day! If he was let in the wild, would he make it?

If he was being fed by the adults, they would rare a few out of their

brood but for them, success is getting one or two of them through.

For him, without his parents he but perished very quickly. Have we

actually said that it is a barn owl? Sir, It is a barn owl. You are

hoping that somebody in the country, somebody out there might know of

another chick because she would like another? Obviously we are

going to release it but it won't be until the spring and he will do so

much better if he can be with another young a barn owl so if

there is another one in captivity waiting for Rehabilitation, it

would be good to get the two together so that he doesn't face a

winter on his own. I have known you for years and you have brought up

all sorts of animals are usually in your house but have you ever looked

after barn owls before? At one time, be used to do the barn owl release

scheme and for many years we were part of that before they eventually

decided that it wasn't successful and was stopped. We have done barn

owls quite a lot but I had never ever seen a barn are at this time

of year at this age. Are you hopeful for his release? I think so,

we would have to take him through to the spring but we bring up our

birds now so it will be nice to follow what happens. He has stopped

kissing. Thank you so much for bringing him in and good luck.

Thatcher Christmas sorted out, you'll be feeding him mice. We like

to get questions from the public and we like to get out and about to

see people who want to ask us questions so we went to a rather

unusual group this week to see what Hello Autumnwatch. We are the Avon

bat group. How do you want me to start? I'm Joe, what's the largest

fugi in Britain.? We are picking up a bat and it's a pippistral. Almost

every evening we seem to have a frog in the garden but we don't

have any ponds near us. I wondered how far frogs travel? Vampire bats,

flower bats... Hello, I'm Josephine. Hello, I'm Ethan. Can beavers

climb? Can badgers climb? Look, go on? Can bats walk? Thanks and bye!

It's the Avon bat group, not the Trust asking those questions. Did

you get the questions? No, remind me, please. One of them about the

largest ever fungi. That could be a trick question. Yes! When you look

at the if you thinkal body that,'s only a tiny part of the organism

because the bulk of it, the mycelia which look like white threads

spread over huge areas and in a forest, they can spread for

kilometres, so if you manage to pull them out of the soil,

impossible task, something like you do in a fairy tail, just get a

Princess or something, they'll be absolutely massive. So it could be

a trick question. Other than that, I thought it was beef stake fungus

but it wasn't. There was a thing called a giant polyfore fungus.

big was it? Big! Massive. Very, very massive! So the answer is a

very big one. Sorry. Richard asks, how far do frag frog travel? A long

way, there you go, I can answer this one. These questions are great.

Do badgers climb? Yes. Frogs - about a kilometre? They will travel

a long way from their ponds to find somewhere to hibernate. So if you

haven't a pond in your garden, you might have somewhere where they

want to hibernate, or they might be going across your garden to your

neighbour's garden which is a hotspot for hibernating. They go

back to their breeding ponds and sometimes people stop them getting

run over because they aggregate in one spot. On a if you occasions,

they'll travel far. Josephine, do badgers climb, she asked? I love

this. We can do better than answer that. Some film has been sent in

from Guy. Look at this. Fantastic! Stirling effort. That must have

been about five foot. Badgers can definitely climb and honey badgers,

they can't jump at all, but if they want to get up something, I've

filmed this, they create a little tower, they drag blocks in, they

keep looking where they want to g, pull in another and another and

make a tower. That reminds me of the incredible badger that

performed in a circus in 1987! Anyway, yes, so they do climb. Very

well. How far? I'm joking, they didn't ask that. Ethan wants to

know, do bats walk? We can answer that as well. They don't just walk,

What is going on?! A couple of bats floating over your head. Yes.

know the clocks change on Saturday night, it gives us an extra hour.

What is everyone going to do with that? I'm going to get someone

who's currently offline online because the BBC are running an

excellent campaign which is designed to get more people web

active, if you like. It's worth doing, particularly for us, because

we rely on your comments which come in via the website. There might be

some people out there, for one reason or another, who're not

online so. Think about joining that campaign. I have a web address for

you, www.bbc.co.uk/givanhour. Just an hour of your time, to introduce

someone to the wonders of the web. It's got to be worth it.

special guest now, great friend of mine and someone I've worked with

on the Really Wild Show for years, it's Nick Baker. Nick's braut all

sorts of creepy Crawleys in for us on the Halloween theme -- brought.

They're the sort we have in our houses and we overlook them and

don't even notice them, do we? These are as much about autumn as

anything. These, if it's wet over the next couple of weeks, you can

go looking for these in your own house. This is Ian by the way,

filming these with the special camera. Don't lose him. Oh, no!

There's a spare! I've got it. That's a daddy long legs spider.

Really difficult to say. I prefrb its Latin name. -- prefer its Latin

name. They are so brilliant. It's got very long, thin spindly legs

which, when you think about what they feed on, they specialise in

eating other spiders, if they were trying to wrap up their prey next

to them, they're likely to get a nip so they process it at arm's

length. They're cool spiders. You can find them in any quiet corner

of your house. Really cool. They get confused with these guys, not a

spider at all. I don't know how we are going to get a shot of that.

Another daddy long legs. That is actually a harvestman. It's an

arachni but not a spider. Early shepherds apparently used to wear

stilts in order to keep an eye on their flock and that's what these

guys are supposed to look like. What, because they kept an eye on

sheep? It's OK, I got it! There's your harvestman. The other daddy

long legs is the crane fly which I've tried so hard to find for you

so we have all three, but this weather's destroyed them. Is it a

good year for spiders and creepy Crawleys in your house? It's been a

brilliant year in the sense of, we had a brilliant dry start. Many

survived the vulnerable stage because of that. At this time of

year, everything's maturing so the spiders that set off on the journey,

a lot of them made it and a lot of them are big and adult. This one

over here, the garden cross spider, is the one you will notice stuck

slap-bang in the middle of the classic webs at the moment. You can

see the cross on its back there. Nick, I know you've got loads of

spiders to show us, but we've run out of time to show them. Already.

They're fantastic and Chris you are going to set a challenge, aren't

you? We have had a good idea here from a lady called Amy who said,

why don't you try and find the biggest house spider in the UK.

It's a good idea because people exaggerate the size of spiders all

the time. People say they had a spider in the house like that. Go

and see. Photograph them, send it in, but you've got to put a ruler

or something of a known size in the photograph so that we can calculate

how big your spider is. Perhaps we can come up with a prize for

Britain's biggest spider. excellent idea. I would like to

start the ball rolling. I took this photograph this morning in my

upstairs bathroom. I tried to get the 20p near the spider but it was

difficult. This is my own first attempt. He's called Eddie, he's

eaten two of his wives so far. He's a brute actually. That's the

beginning. That's the 20p? Yes. You've got to get it closer, please.

I tried prodding him. Use more expertise than Hugh's games over

here. I thought it was a good effort. And the cardinal spider, so

called because it frightened Cardinal Walsey centuries ago, they

were supposed to be 13 centimetres. Always exaggerating. Time for a

special, special quiz. It has its own sting. Let's have the sting,

Marvellous. We've only got time for one poo apparently. Loads of poos

here. Let's have a look at the poo. Have a look at this. That's

beautiful. Do you know what, I'm afraid that's not poo. Ten by four,

not poo at all? Looks like a pellet of a cow. It's a pellet. I've got

one similar in my collection! more for you, quickly, have a look

at that one? Got to get it out! Test-tube from Nigel Brown.

won't come out. This is a man who collected poo as a child! Must have

come from the Isle of Wight I suppose. Can't get to the poo.

While you are doing that, shall we go... There you go. Yummy. OK. It

says brown. Yes. The smell isn't characteristic. It's been damaged

by moths. I'm searching for excuses but it's got insect remains in it

so some sort of predator in there. It's quite small. I'm not sure this

is a poo. I think this could be a pellet as well. We did a special

poo quiz thing as well! It's a bit of a poo... Shall we try to get

some quizzy answery things? Yes. Are we doing the answers? Yes.

Anyone got them Allwright? Loads of people got them Allwright. A small

apology to make because loads of people got it right even though we

labelled them wrongly on the web. Craig Round, Nick Tobb and Nicola

Main were gong the first to get it right. Large eye sockets and of

course that predator beak identify this as a tawny owl. Skull two,

well, down here you are looking for the tusks. This could only be one

animal from the UK and it's the one and only wild boor, the skull of a

male here. And this one? It was the teeth, the canines at the front.

Clearly, it's a type of otter. Part D, the finest dogs in the world.

They were poodles. Well done to everybody who got it right. We have

some buggy questions now. Baker boy, in you come. You should answer some

of these. Joanne Clegg sent us this picture if we can have the picture.

These spiders were concentrated in one field. It was like a sea of wet

cob webs coating every blade of grass and when you look closely,

there were millions of little black spiders and under the web, there

were flies and other insects trapped. Next day it was all gone.

Whofrpblgts sent that in, Tol st oy? -- Tolstoy. Why one field and

why just one day? Chris gave me a quick flash. They could be

youngsters. They do ballooning this time of year, when you get a good

day, you used to get lots of down floating in the sky. Spiders do a

lot of ballooning and join up the grass webs. Not sure what this is

exactly going on, but what happens is, you get convection currents and

a cold air, warm sun, all the cob webs lift in the air and it comes

down again. Joanna Clegg sent this one in and this one in. I think

they're youngsters dispersing, they go up and become aeriel plankton

and travel many miles up there. live one from Jim O'Neil. A live

question. The red mites found on the underside of beetles, are they

parasites or do they benefit the beetle? It depend on the species.

Some will be parasites and some will be getting from A-to-B like

catching a bus. One from STVPQ - my goodness - love slugs and I noticed

many with passengers on. The Millie peeds appear to be attracted to

slugs and apear to groom them. Why do they do this? I was out trying

to catch crane flies for you guys, millipedes like the sugars and

proteins in the slime. doesn't?! I do suck a slug every

now and again myself. Wood lice do it and mites. If you look at a slug

closely, when it opens its breathing pore, you will see little

white mites running round, then they rush to get in before it shuts

the pore. That's all we've got time for. It's Halloween this weekend so

there are loads of things going on. Let me make my way to the map and

level-headed Joe will tell us where to go this weekend to get out and

about. There are events right across the country so go to the

things to do part of the website, put in your postcode and you can

find things near you. Tomorrow, the Al-Arabiya are holding an arts and

crafts eevent at the Royal botanical gardens in Edinburgh --

the RSPB. The National Trust have an event just outside Birmingham

and also, if you want to see some wild life at the weekend, the

barnacle geese are coming in en mass in the Solway Firth. Bradgate

Park in Leicester, an event there. A heap of swans arriving in

Northern Ireland. Of course, it is Halloween, so

there will be masss to do and so get out there, see some wildlife

and have some fun. Yes. We are going to see the barnacle geese,